That's a cool trick. If I could figure out how to make a pack with 20 lbs of camping gear and 30 lbs of climbing gear in it feel weightless it would really improve the quality of my trips. Maybe I should do some more pack shopping. Mine is 20 years old. I'd be willing to spend a few hundred bucks t...

I work with organic and non-organic agricultural operations every day, I see a lot and have a lot of 1st hand experience. Would you trust "organic" label on "Made in Mexico" or "Made in Chile" apples / grapes / etc.? Personally, I usually laugh at them and buy "Made in USA" conventional or from a l...

Disagree. The marketing ploy is that organic is not better and is too expensive. Think who has big bucks, the conventional companies. Organic is only a small slice of the pie and most large growers and companies barely participate. They are the ones with lobbyists and deep pockets who have money an...

I'm simplifying my portfolio to move more towards Taylor's three fund model (not quite there, but closer). To do that, yesterday I sold: Pacific (VPL), Europe (VGK), Emerging Markets (VWO), and iShares Canada (EWC), so that I could buy Total International (VXUS). Turns out all those international f...

Spend it on your kids - each year you can gift them up to $28K per couple, tax free. Open a UTMA or set-up a trust. Do you have a 529 plan for each of them? You've been on this forum long enough to know the obvious: a person who has kids does not ask on a public forum how to spend the money. 8-) So...

Am I right in thinking this means I can convert $400 in SW points to AirTran for much more expensive flights? It seems like an arbitrage opportunity, and I fly on SW quite a bit for work. Yes, you should be able to. The only restriction is that both accounts should be under your name, i.e. you can'...

I'm sorry, I meant to specify that the sign up bonus is for two ROUND TRIP flights to any destination. It really is the best CC sign up bonus I've seen in a while. It is for 32 AirTran credits, which is equivalent to 2 rnd trip flights. SW CC is for 50k, which is equivalent to 41 AirTran credit (co...

Depends where you fly. Those 50,000 points comes out to $833 of southwest "wanna get away" fare. That might get you three regional hops if you're lucky but it won't get you two flights to Jamaica. No, it does not matter where you fly. AirTran rnd trip is 16 credits. From here: http://www.southwest....

AirTran card offers two free tickets to anywhere they fly including Bermuda, Jamaica, etc. Can also be converted to free flights on Southwest for domestic. There are links floating around for one free flight and two free flights, so be sure to search for the latter. If you did not have it yet, Sout...

I'd stay away from Chase Ink this week if you don't have a legit small business, since I'd expect Chase to have extra scrutiny this week considering the flood of applications that they are currently getting.

If the economy is slow because we live in a world with technological advancements that have permanently reduced the need for human labor to provide a high quality of life for society, and if this is a trend that will continue into the future ad infinitum, then... perhaps the economy isn't "slow" as...

Raybo, If you'd have some time left then you might consider a day trip to Yoho National Park. It is only 15 miles off Icefield Parkway. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g1761683-Activities-Yoho_National_Park_British_Columbia.html Takakkaw Falls (less than 20 miles from Lake Louise, but I don't...

Very questionable tricks... I've just looked through them and did not find a single one that I've liked. IMHO, it is a waste to pay professionals to service your furnace every year, have a fall garden crew, etc. About the dryer tip in the OP: we've nearly stopped using dryer and switched to clothesl...

wikipedia page says: n June 2011, the regional government of Andalusia and the local government of Málaga agreed to share costs of restoration (including car parking and a museum) of €9 million. The project will take approximately three years to complete.[3] Many of the original features will remain...

Raybo, thanks for the trip report. Like livesoft, I don't think Big Bend is a good destination for riding a bike. Windows hike that Raybo did is pretty good, but there are other longer and better hikes in the Chisos area, as well as in other areas of the park where bike really won't help much. Big B...

I think college administrations should be allowed to charge what the market will bear. Supply and demand. When people refuse to pay their prices, then those prices won't be paid anymore. It is that simple. But the problem is not what they are charging. The problem is that you'd be paying (and you k...

Article does not say anything about "current yield". I guess they would not have that number until they'd actually start buying bonds. But without having that number, we don't know what is the potential "reward" is in "risk / reward" equation.

No, because a load is money that goes to the sales channel to reward them for selling the fund, while the purchase fee is money that goes back into the fund itself to cover operational costs. I was editing my post as you were typing reply. But from an investor perspective it does not make a differe...

It is very easy to create a successful active fund that beats the market. Here is how to do it: Step 1. Open a new mutual fund and randomly pick 10 stocks Step 2. Repeat Step 1 10 times Step 3. One or two years later close all underpeforming funds and keep those that have beat the market. Step 4. Cl...

Ok, OP has convinced me that if I will be eating in the fancy restaurants (discretionary spending, so does not count) 100% next year then my Personal Inflation Rate for Food (cooked @ home, non-discretionary) will look pretty good.

In my spending budget, out comes the non-discretionary expenses first and the rest is discretionary. (I don't take a trip to Africa every year, so it would be ridiculous to include it.) No gimmick at all! Inflation is a fact and you have to deal with it. That may mean shifting your basket of goods....

I think it is all an accounting gimmick. Claiming that you have an inflation rate of X%, while in reality you are spending much more than that and writing off the rest to "standard of living improvements" is not a proper accounting.
That is what got Enron in trouble.

US inflation (CPI-U) over the last 6 years is 2.18%. But the most important question is: what does past performance tell us about the future? . . . And the answer is: precisely nothing , since spikes like 1974 and 1981 can't be predicted, but can have a significant hit on your portfolio. Basically, ...

I am pretty sure that the answer to your question is State-specific. There are federal guidelines, but States will need to setup their own exchanges and when & how it will happen is State-specific info.

Reward credit cards with SB work pretty much like index funds vs high fee mutual funds:
- people who can restrain themselves will get the benefits
- people who can't restrain themselves will pay the bills for the rest of us

Has anyone tried to do bike touring there? It seems like a great place for that. I rode a bike there only on a Mackinac Island loop, but I am really interested in trying either multi-day tour or some cycling trips from a base camp.
Does anyone have experience in any of that there?